Category: Poetry

Here in the islands summer is not yet giving in to a change of season except for the occasional breeze that brushes past and whispers of cooler nights to come.

When the humidity gets too high, the drying time with my watercolors becomes a sort of guessing game, giving me a good excuse to play with pen and ink instead, and just in time to join in the fun with Inktober started by Mr. Jake Parker (@inktober and @jakeparker). The idea is to do an ink drawing a day for the 31 days of October, and posting them to Instagram with #inktober and #inktober2017. There is also an official Inktober prompt list for anyone wanting drawing ideas.

If ever there was a fun way to get back into using the sketchbook on a daily basis this is it. All one needs is ink and something to draw on. And with so many other prompts and challenges floating around on Instagram for instance, (including Charlie’s World Watercolor Group’s prompt ideas), it can feel like being a kid in a candy store of creative inspiration and fun.

To start off October I pulled ideas from a couple challenges and prompt lists and just let imagination wander. The first one was done in my bullet journal, (part planner, holder of ideas, and playground for doodles).

The second was in a new and inexpensive sketchbook with the hope to get at least the first few pages inked so the rest of the scary blank white pages are not so scary anymore.

July has arrived and along with it the first annual World Watercolor Month celebration. Charlie at Doodlewash, who initiated the World holiday, has proposed 31 days of painting with watercolors to celebrate, and along with artists from around the World, it seems like a fun thing to do.

It all begins with one step, or in this case…one painting. Happy World Watercolor Month!

July 01: Holding a white plumeria

White plumeria

Sweetens gentle ocean trades

Singing island songs

-hkmb

(With no theme for the month it is just play and have fun, make mistakes and splash around. Arches #140 CP; 11″x15″ using only a flat 1″ brush with transparent Daniel Smith and M. Graham watercolors…and plenty of coffee. lol.)

War was on the horizon when French horticulturist Frances Meilland developed a hybrid tea rose with petals light yellow to cream-colored and edged with crimson pink.

Wanting to protect the new rose, cuttings were sent away to friends in Italy, Turkey, Germany and the United States. One story has it that the cuttings sent to the United States made it out on the last flight just ahead of the German invasion of France.

The rose cuttings thrived, and because the war prevented communications between the growers, different names were given to the new rose. In Italy, it was called Gioia, meaning Joy, while Germany named the rose Gloria Dei, for glory to God. In France, it was called “Madame A. Meilland” in honor of the breeder’s mother, and is the official cultivar name for the rose.

As the Second World War finally came to a close in Europe, the trade name “Peace” was publicly announced on April 29, 1945, the name it was given in the United States, Sweden and Norway. Later that year delegates at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations were each given a Peace rose with note that read:

“We hope the Peace rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting world peace.”

Wishing for more trees (today, the last Friday in April, is also National Arbor Day), more roses, and of course more peace.

“This day was created not only to bring awareness to the dogs that go missing but to also celebrate the reunions. Through networks of shelters, veterinaries, social media and other media sources, many lost canines are reunited with their loved ones. National Lost Dog Awareness Day is an opportunity to learn more about prevention and networking.”

Positive thoughts and prayers for the lost that they find their way home, for the searching that they find their friends, and for the many in between who help reconnect hearts.

Because some morning sketches are a little quirky and because Charlie’s invitation to celebrate aNational or International Day with a doodlewash is a fun thing to do. Happy National Lima Bean Respect Day (April 20th)!

Joining Charlie’s invitation to celebrate aNational or International Day with a doodlewash and because it is hard to resist the idea of celebrating National Pet Day, (April 11th), here is a morning doodle. Peace and happiness to all companions great and small and the people who love and care for them.

Last night I heard the passing warble of a Pacific Golden Plover, (Pluvialis fulva), or, as we call them, Kōlea. The name is an onomatopoeia that copies the plover’s flight call.

A timely reminder that April 8th is Draw a Bird Day, a monthly event in our blogging community formerly hosted by Laura at Create Art Everyday, and now cared for by Nina and Kerfe at Method Two Madness.

The Kōlea, navigator, messenger from the gods, guardian spirit, a god incarnate, and a familiar island guest, have wintered here long before man stepped foot on these sandy shores. Many believe the birds helped to guide early Polynesian explorers here and elsewhere in the pacific so it is not surprising they are part of our earliest oral history and even down to today they remain part of our belief system.

These amazing and mighty long-distance flyers, not only find their way back to tiny little specks of lava rock in the middle of the ocean, but they also find the same specific wintering grounds in the islands each year, … such as someone’s backyard. There is a record of a banded Kōlea returning to the same site for over 20 years. No wonder many island residents become attached to seeing their guests arrive year after year.

Most Kōlea have fattened up and their plumage has changed from the golden sandy colors they arrived with in the fall, to more striking breeding plumage complete with a white racer stripe. By next week a few will start to leave, and near the end of the month, large groups will depart on their arduous non-stop journey to as far north as the Arctic tundra.

Though a very few will remain over the summer, by the end of April the absence of Kōlea will be noticeable and people will start marking calendars waiting for their return in the fall. There is still so much to learn from these travelers, they are a link not only to past traditions, but possibly our future as environmental conditions change. As we say in the islands, Aloha a hui hou! (Farewell until we meet again)